Adolfo's
Backstory
When the Marigny music and dining corridor was just getting started on Frenchmen Street (1990s), Chef Alberto Rodriguez opened a funny but excellent little Italian cafe named for himself right in the middle of it. After a few years he moved Uptown and later retired. Adolfo's took over his old place in 2000, cooking food in the same spirit. It caught on among the young Marigny habitues, who spread the word. Instant phenom!
Dining Room
A peculiar, ramshackle, one-flight-up dining room is furnished with tables made out of old treadle sewing machines and other highly miscellaneous fixtures. No two lines are either parallel or meet at a right angle. It's overcrowded and uncomfortable, a feeling exacerbated by that of being rushed. None of this seems to bother the faithful.
Why It's Essential
Assemble a menu of familiar dishes, serve them in large portions, and charge a noticeably below-average price. . . and you may have a restaurant phenom on your hands. At the very least, your establishment will be busy all the time. Topic A at Adolfo's: how hard it is to get a table without a long wait. Topic B: why don't they take credit cards? (Answer: they don't have to. When you serve very filling platters at low prices, you can do anything you want.)
Why It's Good
Here is a slight departure from the New Orleans-style Italian menu. All the dishes are familiar, even if the names aren't. The typical dish here has the main ingredients flooded in one or two of a dozen or so sauces. These range from pretty good to a bit much. Eye appeal is not part of most of the recipes, but who cares when they feed you so much, right?
Most Interesting Dishes
<em><strong>Starters</strong></em><br /> Mussels marinara<br /> »Oysters with Pernod and spinach<br /> Escargots<br /> »Fried eggplant, crabmeat, capers<br /> Eggplant Parmigiana<br /> Eggplant and Italian sausage, marinara<br /> Cannelloni with crabmeat and corn<br /> Cannelloni with spinach and cheese<br /> »Cannelloni with spinach and Italian sausage<br /> Soup of the day<br /> Chicken salad<br /> Shrimp salad<br /> Side salad<br /> <em><strong>Pasta entrees</strong></em><br /> Mussels marinara, pasta<br /> Pasta with shrimp, oysters, spinach, lemon butter<br /> Pasta with Italian sausage<br /> Shrimp or crawfish or both, pasta Alfredo or marinara<br /> Clams with pasta Alfredo or marinara<br /> »Pasta primavera (vegetables, olive oil, garlic)<br /> Pasta and eggplant Parmigiana<br /> <em><strong>Entrees</strong></em><br /> Fish Michelle (shrimp, crawfish)<br /> »Fish Cruz (crabmeat, capers)<br /> Fish Renee (oysters, spinach, sherry)<br /> Fish Sean (clams and shrimp, marinara)<br /> Fish Nick (lemon butter)<br /> FishTony (spinach, lemon, herbs, olive oil)<br /> »Fish Missy (crabmeat, capers, spinach, lemon)<br /> Veal Ocean(shrimp, crawfish, crabmeat, capers)<br /> Veal Frances (shrimp, artichoke hearts)<br /> »Veal Scotty (piccata, artichokes, capers)<br /> Veal Scacie (spinach, lemon)<br /> Veal Parmigiana<br /> Veal pannee, marinara<br /> Chicken Vincent (cream sauce with tasso)<br /> Chicken Brenda (spinach and butter)<br /> »Chicken Maxine (Creole mustard cream sauce)<br /> Chicken Parmigiana<br /> »Chicken pannee<br /> Chicken Tyler (piccata, lemon butter, artichokes)<br /> »Steak Manny (peppercorn cream sauce with rum)<br /> Steak Madrina, with shrimp scampi<br /> Steak Labarca (mushroom butter sauce)<br /> Desserts vary<br />
Deficiencies
Almost any dish would be improved here by having the amount of sauce cut back by about a third, but that would start a riot among the regulars. The cash-only policy, even with the ATM in house, is offensive.
For Best Results
One can construct a good meal from the appetizer section alone. Be sure to find out what the fish of the day is before you order it. Some species are better than others.
Bonus Ratings
1
Hipness
1
Local Color
1
Value